Our COVID response

First, the Good News:

Supply and Demand – When COVID first hit, we saw a big shift in hosts and landlords moving away from Airbnb and short-term rentals, they started looking instead for long-term tenants.  As a result, when the lockdowns ease, there are fewer short-stay homes and bedrooms available,
so those still ‘in the game’ got quite busy again.  In fact, some of the months between lockdowns have been the busiest some hosts have ever seen!

People love to travel – Yes, even though there is a pandemic, people still love to travel.  Many towns and cities are highly dependent on tourism and many countries are trying to enable travel as they juggle vaccines and social distancing.  

People want to keep their bubbles small – As people begin to travel more, the idea of staying in a big busy hotel with potentially hundreds of different families suddenly feels a little risky.  People are choosing smaller spaces and home-share platforms like Airbnb and VRBO offer a perfect option for anyone that wants to keep their bubble small.

Cleaning standards are way up – Cleaners everywhere are working overtime to make sure every surface, every light switch and every remote control is disinfected. Airbnb and VRBO have provided excellent cleaning standards that are now mandatory for all hosts. The days of finding buttery finger smudges on the bread toaster are well and truly behind us!

And… the Less Good News.

We rely on people travelling - We can’t pretend it’s all fairy tales and roses... It’s a global pandemic after all and we operate in the travel industry, which is one of the most affected industries (if not the most affected industry).  So, here’s the low down on some of the drawbacks.

Unpredictable occupancy – You could be fully booked one minute, then a lockdown is announced and all of a sudden you get 100% cancelations for that lockdown period and beyond.  That’s pretty tough to stomach for some hosts, especially if hosting is one of your primary income streams. You may or may not loose the income for the lockdown period, this will depend on your cancelation policy and we can give you some good advice around this.

You may need to issue refunds – A number of different factors play into this, including your cancelation policy and what type of insurance is in place for hosts and guests. Generally, travel platforms like Airbnb and VRBO no longer require hosts to offer refunds as there is an expectation that guests will have travel insurance in place. Originally we decided to refund all guests who can’t travel due to COVID, however it’s difficult to sustain a business on that model, now we treat each case individually on its merits. We also handle 100% of refund request for our hosts.

Should you start or continue your STR journey?

There’s no hiding it, short-stay accommodation is highly volatile at the moment and depending on your Governments or local Governments response to COVID you could get a bunch of cancelations overnight.  So you have to be prepared for that possibility.

If you have a vacant spare bedroom or a home that you only use part time, and if it would be otherwise sitting empty… then sure!  We definitely still recommend home share or short-term-rental, because it's extra income that you wouldn’t otherwise have.

If on the other hand your short-term rental has been a primary or main income stream, or if you are highly dependent on the income to pay a home loan or other debt, then you will need to carefully consider your cancelation policy and we can help guide you through this process.

What does normal look like?

We’ve been incredibly fortunate in New Zealand, we managed to eliminate COVID in the community early on and suffered much fewer lockdowns though 2020 and 2021 as a result. Seeing some normality retuning to other parts of the world is fantastic. Music events like Reading Festival, and Creamfields in the UK, Bonnaroo and Electric Zoo in the USA any many others all having sell-out crowds.

Travel is opening up between different parts of Europe, America and Australasia all of which gives me and the team a great deal of joy and optimism for a life more normal.

Prior to COVID we worked exclusively with New Zealand hosts, the lockdowns provided us a chance to think about and focus on what we’re really good at: people and technology. We’re now able to collaborate with hosts in any part of the world, and so in a funny way, COVID has provided us an opportunity to take a step back and work out how we can support hosts outside as well as inside New Zealand. A pivot of sorts.

Something we can do to help.

We understand that COVID has hit a lot of people financially, hosting travelers can be a valuable additional income stream and helping hosts on that journey is what we love to do.

If money is tight right now and you cant afford our sign-up or membership fee, then just let our team know when you join us and we will waive both fees for the first 12 months, we grant 100% of these requests, no questions asked. Then by the time your 2nd year membership comes up, you’re already earning an income through hosting.

If you’d like to sign up as a host and start earning an additional income from your home or holiday home just follow this link .

Even if you’re in lockdown currently, you could get prepared now to start your Airbnb journey with Abodeio once lockdown ends. 

If you have any questions for me or the team, please reach out via email or via our social channels.  If you know anyone who you think could benefit from this offer, please feel free to share this page with them. Our number one goal is to help as many people as possible create an additional income stream through Airbnb.

Finally I want to say a very heartfelt thank you to my team and the hosts that have stayed the course of the last year or so, I appreciate you and know it’s not been an easy journey sometimes.

Kia-Kaha (Stay Strong)

Jason